1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus and a communication method and, more particularly, to charging control for printing of print target data transmitted by a communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a technique of paying a fee for printing executed by a printing device by general-purpose electronic money stored in an IC card or the like (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-140990 to be referred to as patent literature 1 hereinafter). In a value collection system disclosed in patent literature 1, a print job transmitted by a terminal is printed after a printing device charges for the print job using general-purpose electronic money. In this system, an information terminal such as a PC transmits a print job, and another IC card is used to charge for the print job. In recent years, there is also known a technique of incorporating the mechanism of general-purpose electronic money of an IC card in a mobile communication terminal apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-48270 to be referred to as patent literature 2 hereinafter).
As another technique, there is known a technique of performing high-speed data transfer using a mobile communication terminal apparatus. This technique is known to perform short distance wireless communication in addition to conventional communication via a communication network. A partner communication apparatus of short distance wireless communication is, for example, an MFP (Multi Function Printer), which is known to transmit and receive image data and the like. By using the above described mechanism of general-purpose electronic money of an IC card and a mechanism of transmitting and receiving image data and the like using a mobile communication terminal apparatus, it is possible to complete processing from transmission of a print job to payment using one mobile communication terminal apparatus.
Furthermore, to implement efficient communication in terms of the communication speed and operability, it is known to perform short distance wireless communication using two types of communication methods. There has been proposed a technique in which information of a communication target apparatus necessary for the second short distance wireless communication method is transmitted and received by the first short distance wireless communication method with which the communication speed is relatively low and it is possible to reliably specify a communication partner, and high-speed communication is performed by the second short distance wireless communication method using the information (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-166538 to be referred to as patent literature 3 hereinafter).
The first short distance wireless communication method is, for example, NFC (Near Field Communication), and the second short distance wireless communication method is, for example, Bluetooth® or wireless LAN. Patent literature 1 proposes a printer which first transmits the communication method and encryption method of next communication by NFC and, when communication is to be switched, switches the communication to execute printing using the second communication method. Processing of performing pairing by the first short distance wireless communication method and then switching the communication to the second short distance wireless communication method will be referred to as a handover hereinafter.
When the above-described apparatus which can complete processing from transmission of a print job to a printing apparatus to payment by using one mobile communication terminal apparatus is used, the following problem arises. At the time of transmission of a print job from a mobile communication terminal apparatus, a printing apparatus cannot detect the number of printing sheets and a color mode (monochrome or color) necessary for printing, and thus a fee necessary for printing may not be confirmed. It is, therefore, necessary to perform communication for transmitting a print job and communication for charging.
Even if, for example, a mobile communication terminal apparatus generates a print job of five pages using a printing application, it is not always guaranteed depending on image processing of a printing apparatus that five pages are printed, and six pages may be printed. The difference between the printing application and the image processing program of the printing apparatus may change the number of printing sheets. In this case, the print job designates printing of five pages but it is necessary to charge for six pages. As another example, the printing apparatus forcibly changes settings. If, for example, the printing apparatus is set in an ecology mode to save printing sheets, the job setting of the user may be changed to “2in1” (a mode in which two pages are printed on one printing sheet). As still another example, the mobile communication terminal apparatus transmits a print job of color printing but the printing apparatus changes the setting to monochrome printing since it has no color inks. As still another example, although the mobile communication terminal apparatus transmits a print job of wood-free paper, the printing apparatus executes printing by changing the setting to plain paper. As still another example, if the printing apparatus side temporarily changes a charging unit, an actual fee is different from a fee quoted on the mobile communication terminal apparatus side.
For these reasons, when charging for a print job, it may be impossible to quote an accurate fee unless the printing apparatus performs processing such as image processing after a print job is transmitted. It is, therefore, necessary to separately perform communication for transmitting a print job and communication for payment.
For example, however, if a printing apparatus in a store or the like is used, the user may leave the printing apparatus during a period from when he/she transmits a print job to the printing apparatus until a fee to be charged is decided. The probability that such situation occurs increases especially for an image for which it takes time to execute image processing. In this case, when a third party other than the user who has transmitted the job completes charging processing using general-purpose electronic money, printing starts, and thus printing materials may be carried away.